The San Diego Padres scored three runs in the fourth inning of Thursday night’s game at Dodger Stadium and rode them to a 5-0 victory over the Dodgers.

The Padres reclaimed their eight- game lead over the Dodgers in the Western Division standings, which is the lead they had when they arrived in town Monday. The problem for the Dodgers is that they now have four fewer games in which to play catch-up.

Billingsley went into the game on a roll. He hadn’t allowed an earned run since July 16, the Dodgers’ first series following the All-Star break. He allowed seven runs in four innings of that game and has been virtually untouchable since. In his last three starts (two against San Francisco and one against the Padres), Billingsley threw a combined 21 2/3 shutout innings.

He stretched his shutout streak to a career-high 25 innings before Chase Headley scored Adrian Gonzalez from second base with a one-out single in the fourth inning.

The Padres piled it on after that, adding run-scoring singles from Yorvit Torrealba and Tony Gwynn.

The Dodgers’ offense, which scored nine runs on 12 hits in Wednesday night’s thrashing of the Padres, reverted to its old ways by allowing Padres pitcher Kevin Correia to take control. Correia entered the game with a 7-7 record and 5.06 ERA, and he was 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA against the Dodgers this season.

Correia’s first troublesome inning was the fourth, when the Dodgers had runners at first and second with one out. James Loney hit a fly ball to deep right field, but Ryan Ludwick made the catch in front of the wall, and Matt Kemp ended the inning with a fly ball to center field.

Correia was taken out of the game with two outs in the sixth inning, leaving runners at first and third, and Joe Thatcher came in and got Loney to fly out to center.

The Dodgers got their first two batters on base in the seventh inning, but this time Ernesto Frieri worked his magic to get out of the inning. He fanned Jamey Carroll with a 94 mph fastball, and induced a double-play grounder from catcher A.J. Ellis.

Dodgers manager Joe Torre plans to split the catcher’s position between Ellis and Brad Ausmus, who was behind the plate in Wednesday’s game. Regular catcher Russell Martin was placed on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday with a labral tear in his right hip and is probably lost for the season.

“I’m not going to throw Ausmus into the fire after having been away for so long with the back issue,” Torre said. “I’m probably going to go back and forth with them for a bit and get a feel for it.”

The Padres closed out the scoring with a two-run, ground- ball home run by Chris Denorfia in the ninth inning. Denorfia’s hit bounced over the head of third baseman Casey Blake and down the left field line. Scott Podsednik, unsure if the ball would hit the roll of tarp used to cover the field, hesitated for a split second, allowing the ball to roll past him and into the corner.

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